On Media

Glenn Beck, stronger (and richer) than ever

The conventional wisdom: Fiery cable news host goes off the rails, loses his highly influential platform, and is forever forgotten to history.

Alas, what may be true for ex-MSNBC, ex-Current TV host Keith Olbermann is not true for ex-Fox News host Glenn Beck. Beck now earns $80 million, according to Forbes, making him the eleventh highest-paid celebrity on the Forbes Celebrity 100, putting him ahead of Tom Cruise, Donald Trump, and radio's most influential talking head, Rush Limbaugh.

"Who needs Fox News? Beck is his own network now," the editors at Forbes, who released the Celebrity 100 list today, write. "GBTV, his internet-only video channel, already has more than 300,000 subscribers, making it the biggest component of his fast-growing multimedia empire, Mercury Radio Arts. The conservative host and "rodeo clown" -- his words -- also has his own book imprint with Simon & Schuster, a news website called The Blaze, a live political comedy act and, of course, "The Glenn Beck Program," syndicated by Premiere Radio."

Beck was at number 30 on the celebrity power list last year, he now finds himself at 23. He is, despite the conventional wisdom, anything but irrelevant.